Chiree

Name: Chiree

Race: Foundling (one of the Hundred Changelings sent out by the Founders to explore the galaxy)

Age: Unknown.  Has been self-aware for about 44 years.

Gender: Genderfluid with a tendency towards feminine.  Gender is a difficult topic for this changeling, because they are without a sex in their natural form.  For ease, the changeling will go by feminine pronouns, but won't be annoyed if anyone calls them anything else.

Position applying to: Civilian.  She prefers janitor work, and is very good at it.
 (It is her way of maintaining order; ensuring everything is clean and organised).
 Potentially a consultant on Changelings/would let the science team study her as long as they can help her learn about herself.  She may prove of further use should they encounter the Dominion.

Service record:  Not a member of Starfleet.

2383: She was drawn to the Gamma Quadrant, but fearful of the Federation, the Klingons, and others, because of what she was.  Fearful even moreso, of the Dominion.  She caught a transport to the Gamma Quadrant, and went to the new space station, Deep Space 12.

Pre-Starfleet:

At an unknown date, hundreds of years ago, the Founders of the Dominion sent out about a hundred infant Changelings.  Their exact reasons behind this are unknown, and some of these foundlings met a fatal end, but the Changeling who would later become known as Chiree did not.  The ship she'd come in however, did not come out intact, crashing to the bottom of a large lake.

It may have taken years, but the creature inside eventually figured out how to distribute its mass so that it could maneuver through the water.  Taking different shapes out of necessity because it was uncomfortable down here, and because there were creatures that tried to eat it (despite these creatures being unsuccessful).  It figured out eventually how to scrunch-thrust to the surface of the water, to where it was warm and the light in the sky shone brightly.  It found that it was more comfortable out of water; its needs were met.

But it saw other creatures, and began to mimic them, taking on a form slightly similar to these creatures.  Eventually even studying birds quite closely and learning to fly.  Flying was its passion now, and that's how it found the humanoid settlement.  It is probably around this time that its true sentience was beginning to emerge.  The Changeling was growing.  And like it mimicked other creatures, so too did it study the humanoids and their odd behaviour.  Such as the sounds they made towards each other, and how they changed the way they made those sounds, how their facial parts moved.

It learned to become something…vaguely humanoid.  It was lucky in that the humanoid who found it then was an understanding man who would take it in and hide it.  He was especially worried when it reverted to a liquid, but when it shifted back hours later, he realised the shapeshifter was okay.  He did not tell anyone but his wife, however, for he trusted no-one.

He tried to teach it, eventually realising he had to treat it like an infant who was still learning.  He started with language and, gradually, they would begin to communicate.  He gave the shapeshifter a name -- Chiree, meaning 'golden one' in his people's language, and referring to her natural state as a golden-brown formless liquid.  She would mimic him, and it's through that mimicry she really started to learn.  It was a proud day when she said her first words.

It was a happy time for the whole family, and there were times they forgot just how different their 'child' was.  They were always so proud of her, though.  And they could see improvement, as she refined her humanoid form, starting to look more and more like one of them.  Clothing was always difficult, though, and that was why her 'mother' loved to take her to get clothing.

But it wouldn't last.

This world was within contested space.  A Nausicaan pirate-lord, Aezun, often preyed upon these people.  Chiree tried to defend her family from his thugs, and when he realised what she was, he gave her an offer she couldn't refuse - go with them, and he wouldn't kill her family.  Thus she was taken away, a prize for any pirate lord.  A shapeshifter, that could be used as a tool.  And these pirates used her.  When she wasn't being used for infiltration, they had her either cleaning the ship or entertaining the crew.  For they always got a laugh at seeing her change shapes.  The worst parts were on the raids, when they used her to disable security in the colonies they raided.

During the Dominion War, they took advantage of Starfleet being busy, to raid colonies that didn't have ample protection.

But in 2380, at Aezun's base, a mutiny occurred.  Chiree escaped with a group of Pakleds, having learned of Aezun's death.  The Pakleds wouldn't contact her former home -- and she didn't trust them to do so -- but they did drop her off on a Federation colony.  From there, she sought help.  She didn't realise the suspicion they would hold towards her, being that she was a Changeling.  She was taken in by Starfleet and questioned.  They were able to help her contact her homeworld too, for the humanoids might not have been that advanced, but were capable of warp-flight - thus it wasn't violating the Prime Directive.  She learned her 'father' had died of sickness while she was away.  Her 'mother' said he'd always wanted her to find her own path.  And to find out about her people.

She couldn't bear to return anyway.

She was all on her own now.  She rarely settled down.  She took what jobs that she could get, and found herself preferring janitorial work.  When she heard of Deep Space 12, however, she saw it as an opportunity to learn more about her place of origin.  Despite her fears of the Gamma Quadrant, she made her way there.

Abilities & Limitations: I include this, because a shapeshifter can become overpowered in an RP, and I'd like to have it out there that I've got limitations on this character's abilities.

Chiree is very unaware of many things and will learn them as she goes.  She is a 'discovery character' in that she's going to learn about Starfleet and its protocols, people and varying species, the ship, technology, and about the Gamma Quadrant as she goes.

She is a novice, at best, at shapeshifting.  She has taken a few forms, such as a Cardassian vole, or a bird native to the planet she called her home.  Her humanoid form is rather plain and limited.  Solids might note an 'uncanny valley' look to her humanoid form.  Noses and ears give her specific difficulty, and her 'ears' are flat with an ear-like shape.  She can only shift skin-tight clothing at the present, and her hair is merely a clump.  She has a long way to go when it comes to taking a humanoid form.  This, the bird, and the vole form they take are perhaps the most complex forms they have taken.  Other forms they take are mostly shapes, in their liquid shape.

She must revert to her liquid form every 15-16 hours.  Refusing (or being rendered unable - by a device such as the Obsidian Order's quantum stasis field) to do so will cause extreme physical pain, and a flaking/melting of their form.

She must study an object closely, to learn to take its form.  If she does not, she might attempt a mimicry of the object, but it might not perform correctly.  When she first took to the skies, she'd had to study the birds and their anatomy for a long time.  She is not fully aware of her abilities, and is very far from scratching the surface for a long time.

She has no sense of taste or smell; she can barely comprehend these senses.  She cannot eat or drink (and it would be messy to attempt to do so).  She sees humanoids enjoying food and drink, however; that is the one thing she wishes she, too, could enjoy.

She does not have telepathy, but may link with other Changelings (which she has not yet done, because they haven't encountered another Changeling).  Given her fear of the Dominion, it is highly unlikely she would do such a thing, let alone approach a Founder. Because of her non-humanoid brain, it is believed she cannot be read by telepaths such as Betazoids.

She can potentially detect other Changelings, though if it's a skilled shapeshifter that doesn't want to be found, she might be unable to.  Being in the Gamma Quadrant, she feels the urge to go to the Omarion Nebula (this having been programmed into the Foundlings long before the planet was rendered uninhabitable by the Cardassians and Romulans), and an urge to be a part of something greater (the Link).  Urges she has to fight, and fear is a hell of a motivator.

She has somewhat higher resistances to phaser fire and other elements due to her species' structure.  This does not mean at all that she is immune; a sufficiently high setting would destroy her.  She is also susceptible to radiation poisoning.   She might be able to float in the vacuum of space, but it would be extremely uncomfortable, and -- unlike some Changelings -- she cannot take a form that would move in that part of space.

It is unknown whether or not a Changeling can be assimilated by the Borg.